Magnetic hard disk drives utilize a transducer (e.g., read/write head) that is placed over a rotating magnetic disk. Generally, a small clearance is maintained between the transducer and the disk by a small cushion of air. Due to system disturbances (e.g., vibration, imperfections of the media surface) the disk drive will include a mechanism for finely adjusting this clearance between transducer and disk. For example, a small heater may be activated at a media-facing surface of the transducer, which causes deformations at the media-facing surface due to thermal expansion. Minimizing variations in the transducer-to-media clearance can minimize read/write errors and facilitate increasing areal density.